Cotton-separating machine



Aug. 14, 1928.

R. E. WILSON COTTON SEPARATING MACHINE 4 Sheets$heet 1 Filed Nov. 22,1926 W IZSOTI/ ambcm {oz I (1W 0141M; o

Aug. 14, 1928.

R. E. WILSON COTTON SEPARATING MACHINE Filed Nov. 22, 1926 4Shegts-Shegt 2 R. E. WILSON COTTON SEFARATING MACHINE Filed Nov. 22,1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 W iLSOn 5444)? 4 1 to;

0 Guam Aug. 14, 1928.

R. E. WILSON COTTON SEPARATING MACHINE Filed Nov. 22, 1926 4Sheets-Sheet W/LE; Vt 1 1050 mwmfoz 7 Patented Aug. 14', 1928 omen mPATENT mm 24mm 1:. WILSON, or? nALLAstTExAscomN-smnm'rme. macnmn,

' Application med lkv cmbel 221m Serial No. 149,940.

This invention to a machine (132-: sigued primarily for separatingcotton the dried hulls; A large percentage of the cotton grown in theUnited States is pro- 5 dnced wliere frost and cold weath'er kill'thecotton plants'befiorethe bo'lls have openedi naturally; to the pointwhere the-'ootten can he picked out ofthe' bolls inthe field by hand. Inorder that the cotton'thus affected may be marketed itisnecessarythatsome means he provided for openingfand tearing apart thehells and removing'jthe cotton from the hulls before g-inning..

Itis an object of the present invention to provide e flicientmeanswhereby the some, in the condition described, eanf be 'quiokly andthoroughlytorn apart and practically all of the cotton fibers'removedfrom the hulls:

A further object" is to eflect the" separation by nieansiof intermittentapplication of the treated material to the separatin teeth, the hullsand other trash separated from the fibers being delivered by gravitymachine. r

It is the practiceireqnentlytoutilize; in connection with cotton gins, abeh bmaker for separating the hulls from thecotton or what is known asbolley cotton. The present invention is not designed for nseas a bollbreaker but, on the contrary, is to-be employed for treating the cottonwhilepassing from theholl; breaker'to the gim \Vith the foregoing andother objects in view which willappearas'the' description proceeds, theinvention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts arld inthe details of construction" hereinafter described and claimed, it beingunderstood "that changes inv the precise embodiment (ifthe inventionherein disclosed may be made wit-hinthe scope of what iselainied,without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the pre ferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings; V

Figure 1 is a central vertical section through the cotton separator.

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section thcr'ethrongh on the line 2+2,Figure-1 Figure 3is a view partly in'sectionan'd partly in elevation ofthe racks and operating means in one position;

3 ate 1 2.

1Figure tis a similar View showing another set ofracks and'theiroperating. means in omiposition. V

Fdgurefi is'a view partly in side elevation and partly in; section of aportion 01 a cotton; separator showinga modified means for. operatingthe racks.

' Figure 6 is a side elevation of theoperating means: shown in Figure 5,a portionot theseparator being shown in section.

Figure 7' is a section through amodified form of separator designed'foruse upon-a gin. I

Figure '8 is an elevation of the machine shown in Figure 7 and showingthat side thereofi containing the rack operating mech-v amsm. v I

Figure 9- is a' plan View of the rack operating mechanism shown in;Figure 8, a pori301]; of the separator being. shownim 'section. a

Figure 10 is an elevation of one of the necks-and its operat-ingameans,one position being indicated by a full lines and another position bybroken lines: 1 r

:Figure 11 isya section'through' another form at separator.

Referring to; the figures by characters of reference 11 designates aclosed housing havin'gan inlet orii'eed hopper z at its upper end"and-anoutlethopper 3 forinedyby the convergingwwalls of the bottomportion 'of the housingpthis'outlet hopper opening into the oasingj t ofa vacui'i m feeding wheel 5 Inonntedmfor rotation in the casing 4 andadapted to discharge into a blow pipe or 13 and adjacent one sideof' thehopper 2.

Another stripper roller '16 is arranged close to theuppermost portionof'the lower cylin- Snperposed'shafts 11 and 12 are journaled till der14 and back of a shield plate 17 extending downwardly close to andbeneath the cylinder 13. The brush 10, the cylinders and the strippersrollers and other rotating parts can be operated by any suitablemechanism provided for that purpose. For example, a pulley 18 can besecured to the shaft 11 and another pulley 19 can be secured to theshaft 12. An idler pulley 20 can be journaled on one side of thehousing, this pulley being, engaged by an endless belt 21 which extendsdownwardly into engagement with a pulley 22 carried by the shaft 23 ofthe vacuum feeder 5. From this pulley 22 the belt can be extended overan idler 24 and thence under and into engagement with the pulley 19,over a pulley 25 secured to the shaft 26 of the stripper-roller 16,)artly around a pulley 27 carried by the shalt 28 of brush 10, andthence under and into engagement with pulley 18 and back to the pulley20. A pulley 29 carried by the shaft 26 can receive motion from a belt30 driven by any suitable means.

Mounted on the pulley 19 is a short endless belt 31 used to drive thestripper roller 16' and another short endless belt 32 is mounted 011 thepulley 18 and utilized for driving the stripper roller 15. Extendingtransversely within the housing 1 are superposed rock shafts 33, 34. 35and 36. Fixedly connected to and extending radially from each of theseshafts is a rack, said racks being indicated at 37, 38, 39 and 40respectively. The racks illustrated are formed of spaced fingers but itis to be understood that they can beunade of solid boards or any othermaterials desired.

The shafts are arranged in groups, the shafts 33 and 35 being coupledtogether for simultaneous operation while the shafts 34 and 36 are alsocoupled together. i This will be seen by referring particularly toFigures 3 and 4. Shafts .33 and 35 are provided at one end with crankarms 41 connected by a bar 42 to which they are pivotally connected. Thelower end of this bar rests upon and is adapted to be actuated by arotatable vcam 43 secured to a shaft 44 which can receive motion.through a pulley 45 and a belt 46 from a pulley 47 secured to the shaft12. The shal'ts 34 and 36 are provided at one end with crank arms 48pivotally connected to a bar 49 which rests upon and is adapted to beactuated by a rotatable cam 50 secured to. the shaft 44. The two camsare so arranged on shaft 44 as to actuate the bars 42- aud 49alternately. In other words while the bar 49 is in its lowermostposition the bar 42 can be moving upwardly under the action of its cam43, and vice versa.

The racks 37 and 38 are adapted to extend close to and cooperate withthe upper toothed cylinder 13 which the racks39 and 40 extend close toand are adapted to cooperate with the lower toothed cylinder 14. Theoperation of the structure is as follows: Assuming that the cylinders 13and 14 are rotating at a high speed in the direction indicated by thearrows in Figure 1, the stripper roller would also be rotating in thedis rection indicated by the arrows while the dolling brush will act tostrip cotton fibers from the teeth of the cylinders and direct thecotton into the suction pipe 7 by way of the outlet 8. The periphery ofthe brush travels at a higher speed than the peripheries of thecylinders to permit this action.

The cotton to be treated is directed through the outlet 2 and will comeupon and be supported by the upper rack 37 so that the material willthus be caused to gravitate against the teeth of the upper cylinder 13which will -grip portions of the cotton and tear the same from thehulls, this action being facilitated bV the stripper roller 15. After apredetermined interval the cam 43 thrusts upwardly against the bar 42 soas to cause the racks 37 and 39 to swing downwardly from the positionsshown in Figure 1 and in full lines in Figure 3 to the position shown bybroken lines in Figure 3. Just prior to this movement, however, the cam50 thrusts upwardly against the bar 49 so that the racks 38 and 40 areswung from the full line positions shown in Figure 4 to the dotted lineposition shown in said figure. Thus as the rack 37 swings downwardly thematerial supported thereby will gravitate onto the previously raisedrack 38 along which the material will gravitate so as to again :comeagainst the toothed surface of the cylinder 13 where a furtherseparation is effected. After a predetermined time interval the rack 38swings downwardly but immediately prior thereto the rack 39 has beenraised by the cam 43 acting on the bar 42. Thus the material gravitate;off of the rack 38 onto the rack 39 along which it will slide againstthe surface of the toothed cylinder 14. This will result in a furtherseparation of the cotton from the hulls. Thereafter rack 39 will swingdownwardly and deposit the material on the rack 40 which has movedupwardly. Here a final separation of the cotton from the bulls will takeplace, afterwhich rack 40 will swing downwardly and the hulls and othertrash remaining will gravitate to the vacuum feeder and be deliveredinto the flue or flow pipe (5. As the cotton is separated away andcarried past the stripper roller, it will be dotted from the toothedcylinders by the brush 10 as before explained and directed into thesuction pipe 7.

Importance is attached to the use of the superposed alternatelyoperating means for retarding the mass of cotton while permitting it togravitate against the toothed cylinders, thereafter releasing said massso that it can rotate-as it falls onto thefnext rack along which itravitat'es for re-enga'gement unit and cylinder 14 constitutes a part ofthe other unit a very rapid and thorough separation is insured.

It will be obvious that various changes may be made in the constructionof a machine designed to carry out this operation.

Forexample, instead of utilizing cams and connecting bars as showninFlgures 1 .3 and 4', the racks with their crank arms, in dicated at 51in Figure 5- can be connected to" bars 52 and 53, one of these barsbeing rovided for" each pair of racks. To each Ear a pitnia'n 54 can'beconnected, this pitmanreceiving motion from an eccentric 55 carried ashaft 561 With an operating mechanism of this type the up and down"movement of each rack is more gradual than where a cam such as shown'in Figures Sand 4 is utilized. The dam allows the rack to swingdownwardly gradually but they will quickly to elevated. position whenreli'eved" from the thrusting action of the cam.

Instead of'utilizing a plurality of toothed cylinders with a group ofracks associated with eachcylinder', restructure such as illustrated inFigure 7 canbeemployed; This structure, by reason ofits' compactarrangement, is particularly designed for use on a cotton gin. Thisstructure includes a housing 57 having an inlet opening 58 at the topthereof, an outlet trough 59 in the bottom thereof, and a cotton chutemi leading from an outlet 61 in'the wall of the housing; In thismodified form ofmachine' a toothed cylinder 62 is carried by a shaft 63jonrnaled m the housing; interposed between this cylinder and the bottomportion of the outlet 61 151'?! screen 64 above"whiichisilocated arotatable dofling' brush'65. Feed rollers 66- are arranged within theinlet" o enin' 58 and interposed between one of t ese "iced rollers andthe cylinder 62 is'a stripper roller 67f A shield 68 extendsbetweenthestripper roller 67 and the feed rollers 66thereabove so as toprevent thehulls and other trash from being carried by the stripperroller toward the dofiing' brush.

The feed rollers 66 are provided" with meshing gears 69 such as commonlyernployed tocause the rolls to rotate in opposite directionsrespectively. On of these feed rolls has a ratchet wheel 70 rotatabletherewith,vthere being a lever 71 journaled on-the shaftl'fl'of saidroller andcarryi ng a pawl 7 3 at one end which meshes withthe ratchetWheel. Parallel links'ltconnect the lever 71 to a link 75 carryinganother pawl 76 which engages the'ratchetwheel 70, one

latter gear meshes with and receives motionfrom. a: small gear" secured"to and rotating" with" the sh'a t't'63 of" the toothed cylinder 62'.Tlie gea r'83 meshes with a last gear 86 jour+- naled on one side of.the housing and having a shaft 87 to which aresecured separate:disll'sSS, 89 and' 90". Disk 88- has'a tripping pin 91 extendinglaterally therefrom and a similar: pin 92 is' extended laterallyfrom thedisk 89. A third pin 93 is extended lat era'lly from the disk 90. Thisarrangement has. been illustrated in Figure 9.

Arranged" between one wall of thel-housingi 57" and the" toothedcylinder 62 are superposed shafts 94, 95 and 96' each of whichlias: arack 97, 98 or 99 extending radially therefrom towardthe periphery ofthe cylinder 62. Shaft'94, as shown in Figure'B has a' crank-arm 100-pivotally' connected" a link 101 to one end of a lever 102-exten inginto the path of the pin 91. -A crank arm 103 is extended radiallyfrointheshaft 95 and is connected by a link 104 to one end of a lever105 projecting into thepath" of the tripping pin 92. A radial arm'106Yis extended from: the shaft. 96' and is connected by a link 107" tooneend ofalever 108 which projects into the path of the trippingpin 93.\Veigh-ts 109 are attached tothe 'respec tive' shafts 94, 95 and 96 andact to ho'l'df the fevers 1'02, 104 and 108 normally loweredattheirl'ree ends and with the racksnor mally elevated. p a

The worm'conveyorll'tlcan be arranged Within the trough 59 forthe.purpose of removing trash deposited in the trough.

Any desired means can be employed. for driving the stripper roller.Forexa'mple' a pulley 111 can be secured to' the shaft'llQ of saidroller and can be driven by a belt 113 driven by a pulley 11*1 carriedby the shaft 63.

In operation the cotton to be treated is directed into. the inlet 58where it is engaged by the rotating feed rollers 66 and forceddownwardly. The'speed of rotation ofthese feed rollers depends upon theadjustment of the'parts 79 and 80. The rotating gear 83 oscillates the lGVBI'BO through the pitman 81 the amount of motion transmitted by thisoscillating lever of course depends upon the distance'betwcen thefulcrum of said lever and the point of connection between the lever andthe link 79. As lever 80 oscillates lever 77. will also beoscillated'and such oscillation will result in theactuation of thepawl's 73and"72 and the intermittent ill rotation of the ratchet wheeland of the two feed rollers. As the feed rollers oscillates motion istransmitted to the disk 88, 89 and90. ,The pins on these disks are solocated that thelevers 102, and 108 will be actuated thereby in properlytimed succession. F or example as the cotton is directed downwardly ontothe toothed cylinder 62 it'will be supported by the rack 97 andgravitate therealong against the toothed cylinder so that cotton will bepulled from the hulls and conveyed to the dofiing brush. After thisoperation has continued for a predetermined time the lever 10:2 istripped to cause the rack 97 to swing downwardly, thereby dischargingthe material thereon to the rack 98. The operation is then repeated, anew supply of cotton being delivered to the rack'l)? while the cottonpreviously acted on will be supported by the rack 98 and be held bygravity against the toothed cylinder. Thereafter, after a undeterminedinterval, the lever 105 will be tripped and the rack 98 swingdownwardly. This will cause the cotton to slide off of rack 98 onto rack99. The

cotton previously supported by the rack 97 will be delivered onto therack 98 by a second tripping of lever 102 while a new supply of cottonwill be delivered onto the rack 97 after it has been tripped. Thuscotton will be acted on at three different places on the cylinder, thenew supply being engaged by the teeth while being supported on the rack97, the previously treated supply being engaged by the toothed cylinderwhile the supply is supported on rack 98, and the lower rack 99 holdingagainst the cylinder the cotton which had previously been supported bythe two racks thereabove. Thereafter the cotton on rack 99 will bedumped by the tripping of lever 108 and the trash, including the hulls,supported by this rack will be delivered to the trough 59. Previousthereto, however, practically all of the cotton fiber has been removedfrom the hulls by the toothed cylinder 62 and conveyed to the dollinbrush.

TVhat is claimed is:

1. The combination with a toothed cylinder mounted for rotation and astripper roller thereabove and adjacent thereto, of means for feedingcotton by gravity to the cylinder, a plurality of movable racks, andmeans for positively actuating the racks for cooperation with the.cylinder to intermittently retard the gravitation of the cotton andpresenting it to the cylinder.

2. The combination with a housing having a cotton inlet at its upper andtrash vreceiving means adjacent its lower end, of a toothed cylindermounted for rotation within the housing between the inlet and the trashreceiving means, there being a cotton outlet adjacent the cylinder,means for rotating the cylinder to move its teethagainst the cottongravitating from the inlet, a plurality of movable racks, means forpositively actuating the racks for cooperation with the cylinderto'intermittently retard the cotton during its gravitation and presentthe same to the cylinder, a stripper cooperating with the cylinder, andmeans interposed between the cylinder and the outlet for dolling cottonfrom the cylinder and directing it to the outlet.

3. The combination with a housing having a cotton inlet at the topthereof, trash receiving means in conununication with the bottom of thehousing, and a cotton outlet, of a toothed cylinder mounted for rotationwithin the housing adjacent the outlet below the inlet, a plurality ofmovable racks, means for positively actuating the racks for cooperationwith the cylinder to intermittently rctard gravitation of cotton fromthe inlet and intermittently present the cotton to the cylinder meansfor rotating said cylinder to advance the teeth thereof into theretarded cotton and com-'eyed toward the outlet, stripping meanscooperating with the cylinder, and dolling means adjacent the cylinderand outlet.

4. The combination with a housing having a cotton inlet, trash receivingmeans at the bottom of the housing, and a cotton outlet, a3 of a toothedcylinder mounted for rotation within the housing, superposed racksmovably n'iounted within the housing and cooperating with the cylinderto retard cotton, means for automatically and positively actumo atingthe racks in properly timed succession to successively stop and releasecotton gravitating from the inlet and to present the stopped cotton tothe cylinder, means for rotating the cylinder to advance its teeth into10.; the stopped cotton, a stripper cooperating with the cylinder, andmeans for dolling cotton from the cylinder and directing it to theoutlet.

5. The combination with a housing hav- 1 o ing an inlet in the topthereof, trash receiving means eonnnunicating with the bottom thereof,and a cotton outlet, of a toothed cylinder mounted for rotation withinthe housing, separate racks movably mounted within the housing andcooperating with the cylinder for stopping the gravitation of cottonmeans for positively and automatically actuating the racksintermittently to intermittently present cotton to the cylinder at dif-12o ferent levels and to deliver trash to the receiving means, means forrotating the cylinder to advance its teeth into the stopped cottonpresented thereto, a stripper cooperating with the cvlinder, and meansfor dolling cotton from thecylinder and directing it to the outlet.

6. The combination with a housing having a cottoninlet in the upperportion thereof, trash receiving means communicating with 1:0

till

the lower portion thereof, and a cotton outlet, of superposed racksmovably mounted within the housing, a toothed cylinder mounted forrotation within the housing and adjacent to and cooperating with theracks to retard cotton, means for actuating the racks positively andautomatically in properly timed succession to intermittently stop thegravitation of cotton through the housing from the inlet toward thetrash receiving means and to present the cotton when stopped to thetoothed surface of the cylinder, and means for actuating the cylinder toadvance the teeth into the gravitating and stopped cotton.

7 The combination with a housing having a cotton inlet in the upperportion thereof, and a cotton outlet, of a toothed cylinder mounted forrotation within the housing, superposed racks movably mounted within thehousing in the path of cotton gravitating from the inlet and cooperatingwith the cylinder to retard the cotton, and means for automatically andpositively operating the racks in properly timed relation tointermittent-1y stop the gravitation of the cotton and to present thecotton at different elevations successively to the rotating cylinder.

8. The combination with a housing having a cotton inlet and a cottonoutlet, of superposed toothed cylinders mounted for rotation within thehousing below the inlet,

stripping means cooperating with the respective cylinders, dotfing meanscooperating therewith and adjacent the outlet, racks cooperating withthe cylinders for retarding cotton, and means for intermittently andpositively actuating the racks automatically to intermittently retardthe gravitation of the cotton from the inlet and to intermittentlypresent the cotton to the toothed surfaces of the cylinders at differentelevations successively.

9. The combination with a housing having a cotton inlet and a cot-tonoutlet, of superposed toothed cylinders mounted for rotation within thehousing below the inlet, stripping means cooperating with the respectivecylinders, dotting means cooperating therewith and adjacent the outlet,means for intermittently retarding the gravitation of the cotton fromthe inlet to intermittently present the cotton to the toothed surfacesof the cylinders at different elevations successively, said meansincluding racks mov-- ably mounted in the housing, and means forautomatically and intermittently actuating the racks positively to shiftthem into and out of the path of the gravitating cotton in properlytimed relation.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixedmy signature.

RALPH E. WILSON.

